亞裔移民能否改變加州的政治版圖

IRVINE, Calif. — When the Taiwanese bakery opened for business a decade ago, the line for taro bread and sea-salt coffee undulated down the sidewalk, but at least it wasn’t the three-hour wait for Shanghainese hot pot that plugged up the same shopping center this year. Still, that was preferable to the half-day’s perseverance required for entry to the South Coast Plaza branch of Din Tai Fung, the upscale soup-dumpling chain that, for three weeks this winter, threw a crystal-bedecked Lunar New Year party more elaborate than that of most Chinatowns.

加州歐文——這家臺灣烘焙坊十年前開業時，來這裏買芋頭面包和海鹽咖啡的人排出的長隊沿着人行道蜿蜒不斷，但至少他們等待的時間不是今年在同一家購物中心開張的上海火鍋店所需的三個小時。不過，三個小時也比在南海岸廣場(South Coast Plaza)的鼎泰豐(Din Tai Fung)分店等到一張桌子所需要的半天要好得多。爲慶祝農曆新年，這家高檔湯包連鎖店今年冬天連續三週舉辦豪華派對，所提供的飯菜比大多數唐人街的精美得多。

Chinese and Korean immigrants, and Asian-Americans from other states, have made Irvine nearly half Asian. This has not gone unnoticed by the Irvine Company, the developer that did not so much develop as invent this master-planned city of spotless parks, top schools and cul-de-sacs out of a former sheep ranch in the 1960s, when Orange County was agricultural (think lima beans and orange groves), conservative (think Richard Nixon and the John Birch Society) and white (very, very white).

中國和韓國的移民，以及來自美國其他州的亞裔美國人，已把歐文人口的近一半變成了亞洲人。開發商歐文公司(Irvine Company)注意到了這個變化，與其說該公司開發了歐文，不如說它發明了這個總體規劃出來的城市，在這裏建起了清潔的公園、頂尖學校，以及封閉的小區。歐文在20世紀60年代是個牧羊場，其所在的奧蘭治縣那時是個農業縣（盛產青豆和橘子），居民以保守派（比如理查德·尼克松、約翰柏奇社[John Birch Society]會員）和白人（特別、特別白）爲主。

Known for its devotion to tasteful Mediterranean-ish homes and strip malls that bear approximately the same architectural relationship to Tuscany as the Las Vegas Venetian does to Venice, the company has cultivated a few new trademarks in recent years. Developments advertise second kitchens designed to seal off the aroma of Asian cooking. In-law suites cater to the Asian custom of multigenerational living. Asians smile out of ersatz family photos in the model homes. And Asian immigrant couples have been buying homes up — often for millions, often in cash.

歐文公司以喜歡修建雅緻的地中海風格住宅和公路旁的購物飲食街而聞名，這些購物中心在建築風格上與意大利托斯卡納的關係，和拉斯維加斯威尼斯人酒店(Las Vegas Venetian)與威尼斯的關係大致相似。近年來，這家公司還建立了幾個新標誌。公司的廣告說其開發的住宅有兩間廚房，一間是爲了不讓亞洲烹飪的氣味充滿房間而設計的。其住宅還帶有老人套間，迎合了亞洲人多代同堂的習俗。樣板房裏展示着亞洲人滿面笑容的家庭照片。亞洲移民夫婦們一直在這裏買房子——經常花數百萬美元，經常付現金。

“Asians,” said Sukhee Kang, who became the first Korean-American to run a major American city when he was elected mayor of Irvine in 2008, “are good for business.”

“亞洲人給經商帶來好處，”2008年當選歐文市長的韓裔美國人的姜石熙(Sukhee Kang)說，他是美國主要城市的首位亞裔市長。

Whether Asians are also good for votes is one of the biggest political questions driving this year’s midterm races in Orange County, where Democrats are counting on immigrants to help the party pull off, if not quite a blue wave, then at least an unmistakable purpling.

亞洲人是否給選票帶來好處是驅動今年奧蘭治縣中期選舉的最大政治問題之一，民主黨人在指望移民來幫助民主黨獲勝，即使不能讓選區被藍色浪潮席捲的話，至少也要其明顯地變紫。

Orange County is now one-fifth Asian and more than one-third Latino, with a Little Saigon in Garden Grove and Westminster; a Koreatown in nearby Buena Park that is beginning to rival Los Angeles’s; and a thriving Latino community centered in Santa Ana. Forty-five percent of the county’s households speak a language other than English.

奧蘭治縣現在的人口構成是亞裔佔五分之一，西語裔佔三分之一以上，園林市(Garden Grove)和西敏市(Westminster)各有一個小西貢(Little Saigon)，附近普安那公園市(Buena Park)的韓國城已開始能夠與洛杉磯相抗衡，還有一個以聖安娜(Santa Ana)爲中心的繁榮的拉丁美洲社區。該縣45%的家庭使用英語以外的其他語言。

In the 45th Congressional District, whose biggest city is Irvine, three of the four Democratic candidates were born to immigrants, including one of the front-runners, Dave Min, a Korean-American law professor at the University of California, Irvine. Whichever Democrat does best in the June 5 primary will challenge Representative Mimi Walters, the Republican incumbent, in a district that has never elected anyone but Republicans — an area once famous for nurturing the political careers of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

在加州的國會第45選區中，歐文是最大的城市，當地的四名民主黨候選人中有三名出生在移民家庭，包括可能獲勝者之一、加州大學歐文分校(University of California, Irvine)的美籍韓裔法學教授戴夫·敏(Dave Min)。無論哪位民主黨人在6月5日的初選中獲勝，他都將挑戰現任共和黨衆議員米米·沃爾特斯(Mimi Walters)。以前，這個選區除共和黨人外，沒有選出過任何其他黨派的人，這個地區曾以支持了巴里·戈德華特(Barry Goldwater)和羅納德·里根(Ronald Reagan)的政治生涯而聞名。

Hence the double-takes when Orange County chose Hillary Clinton in 2016, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate had carried the county since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term.

因此，2016年奧蘭治縣把多數票投給了希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)時，纔有了人們愣了一會兒才恍然大悟的反應，那是自富蘭克林·D·羅斯福(Franklin D. Roosevelt)的第二個任期以來，一位民主黨總統候選人首次贏得該縣的支持。

Mrs. Clinton’s edge seems like less of a stretch in the diverse precincts of Irvine, whose demographics increasingly look like the future of Orange County.

在歐文市多元化的子選區裏，希拉里的優勢看起來並不那麼奇怪，歐文的人口結構越來越像是奧蘭治縣的未來。

But when half the residents of this city of a quarter-million are Asian, it is not clear whether demographics will be destiny for the Democrats, or just, well, a faux-Mediterranean cul-de-sac.

但是，當這座擁有25萬人口的城市有一半居民是亞裔時，這種人口結構是否會主宰民主黨的未來，而不僅僅像那些封閉小區裏仿地中海式房子那樣只是表面現象，目前還不清楚。

Turnout is one reason. Asian-Americans tend not to vote in high numbers, put off by language barriers, lack of outreach from either party and a historical absence of political engagement.

有多少人會出來投票是一個原因。亞裔美國人中參加投票的往往不多，這裏有語言障礙的問題，共和黨和民主黨也都沒有在亞裔選民中拉票，再就是亞裔在歷史上缺乏政治參與。

Though they have gravitated toward the left ever since the 1990s, they are fractured. According to a national survey of Asian-Americans conducted after the 2016 election, Indian- and Korean-Americans tack progressive, Chinese- and Vietnamese-Americans more conservative. While Asians registered as Republicans in Orange County outnumber Asian Democrats, more than one-third of Asian voters identify as independents.

儘管自20世紀90年代以來，亞裔中多數人傾向偏左，但他們不是鐵板一塊。據一項2016年大選後對亞裔美國人進行的全國性調查，印度裔和韓裔美國人傾向於進步派，華裔和越南裔美國人更爲保守。雖然在奧蘭治縣登記爲共和黨人的亞裔人數超過了亞裔民主黨人，但三分之一以上的亞裔選民自認是獨立選民。

Those splits reflect the diversity of an Asian population that is one-third Vietnamese, one-sixth Korean and one-sixth Chinese, with smaller shares of Filipinos, Indians and Japanese. Those who live in Irvine are often highly educated and affluent, especially the businesspeople from mainland China and Korea who often buy up new subdivisions. But there remain pockets of poverty among the county’s Vietnamese, Cambodians and Pacific Islanders.

這些分裂反映出亞裔人口的多樣性，他們的三分之一是越南裔，六分之一是韓裔，六分之一是華裔，還有更小比例的菲律賓裔、印度裔和日裔。歐文的居民往往都受過高等教育，生活富裕，尤其是來自中國大陸和韓國的商人，他們常常購買新房。但在該縣的越南裔、柬埔寨裔和太平洋島民中，仍有一些貧困人口。

And though they tend to hold liberal views on issues like gun control, climate change and public spending, the political causes that some Asian-Americans have rallied around in recent years have veered conservative. Organizing on the social media platform WeChat, Chinese immigrants mobilized in 2014 to kill legislation that would have resurrected affirmative action at California universities.

儘管他們在槍支管制、氣候變化和公共開支等問題上傾向於持自由派觀點，但近年來，一些亞裔美國人支持的政治事業已轉向保守。2014年，中國移民利用社交媒體平臺微信上組織起來，擊敗了加州大學恢復平權法案的立法。

Even so, many Asians oppose the Trump administration’s makeover of the immigration system, and their votes evince a broader discomfort with the president. Orange County Asians re-elected their Republican congressional representatives, yet tilted toward Mrs. Clinton in 2016.

儘管如此，許多亞裔還是反對特朗普政府對移民制度的改革，他們的投票表現出對總統的更廣泛的不安。2016年，奧蘭治縣的亞裔讓他們的共和黨國會議員再次當選，但在總統候選人上傾向於希拉里。

“Because of Republican rhetoric against immigration, Republicans are really turning off Asian-Americans,” said Jennifer Lee, a Columbia sociologist and one of the 2016 survey’s authors. She said both parties needed to work harder for Asian votes. “As they grow as a larger voting bloc, they’re really up for grabs,” she said.

“由於共和黨人的反移民言論，共和黨人真的正在亞裔美國人中引起反感，”哥倫比亞大學社會學家、前面提到的2016年調查的作者之一珍妮弗·李(Jennifer Lee)說。她說，兩黨都需要爲爭取亞裔選票作出更多的努力。“隨着他們發展成一個更大的投票羣體，他們的選票真的值得爭取，”她說。

What could cut through the political crosscurrents this year is a simple maxim: Asians vote for Asians.

今年，也許能夠打破這些政治上的不同是一個簡單的格言：亞裔給亞裔投票。

The few Asian politicians in Orange County have tended to be Republicans, not least because the party has been the only game in town. A front-runner to replace Ed Royce, a retiring Republican congressman who represents heavily Hispanic and Asian parts of northern Orange County, is a Korean-born Republican former state legislator named Young Kim.

奧蘭治縣爲數不多的亞裔政治人士往往是共和黨人，至少是因爲共和黨一直是這裏的唯一選擇。代表有衆多西語裔和亞裔人口的奧蘭治縣北部的種議員共和黨人埃德·羅伊斯(Ed Royce)即將退休，有望成爲其繼任的是一位名叫金揚(Young Kim)的年輕人，他出生在韓國，擔任過州議會的共和黨議員。

But younger Asian-Americans, especially those born in the United States, have tended to swerve left of their elders. They include Mr. Min, a former adviser to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York who calls himself a housing finance wonk. Depending on how several other races turn out, he could become the only Korean-American in Congress, a prospect that finds its way into his pitch when Asian voters are around.

但年輕的亞裔美國人、尤其是那些在美國出生的亞裔美國人，往往會比他們的長輩更偏左。這些人中包括戴夫·敏，他曾擔任紐約州參議員查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)的顧問，自稱是住房金融專家。他可能成爲美國國會中唯一的韓裔美國人，這將取決於幾場競選的結果，這個可能性也是在有亞裔選民在場時他拉選票宣傳的一個論點。

Running in Irvine, where Asians, whites and Persians alike buy million-dollar homes in large part to put their children in ultracompetitive public schools, Mr. Min has reasons both for doubt and for hope. “I joke that it’s the one district in the country where being an Asian-American law professor is an advantage,” he said.

歐文的亞裔、白人和波斯人買的房子都價值數百萬美元，這在很大程度上是爲了把自己的孩子送進競爭激烈的公立學校。在這樣的地方競選，戴夫·敏既有吃不準結果的理由，也有充滿希望的理由。“我開玩笑說，這是亞裔美國法學教授有優勢的唯一一個美國選區，”他說。

Resistance City, this is not. Lawn signs advertising open houses tend to far outnumber those endorsing politicians. And then there is the question of Asian voters, who, beyond inconsistent turnout, are not numerous enough on their own to pick winners.

不，這裏並不是抵抗之城。宣傳看房開放日的草坪廣告牌比宣傳政客的要多得多。然後還有亞洲選民的問題，不僅投票率不一致，數量也不足以選出自己的獲勝者。

Still, Asians are the fastest-growing immigrant group in the country; in 2015, researchers at the University of California, Davis, projected that the number of eligible Asian-American voters in California would rise 37 percent by 2040.

儘管如此，亞裔仍是美國增長最快的移民羣體。2015年，加州大學戴維斯分校(University of California, Davis)的研究人員曾預測，到了2040年，加州有資格投票的亞裔美國人人數將上升37%。

“The more you can engage them in the place they’re comfortable, in the language they’re comfortable in — it’s a sign that we value their vote,” said Katie Porter, a U.C. Irvine law professor who is considered Mr. Min’s main rival.

“你越能在他們感到舒適、語言自然的地方融入他們，是我們重視他們投票的標誌，”被視爲戴夫·敏主要對手的加州大學歐文分校的法學教授凱蒂·波特(Katie Porter)說。

She said her campaign, which highlights her consumer protection work with Senator Elizabeth Warren, was energizing previously apathetic voters: “I think that this is a place where historically, politics wasn’t discussed, but this most recent election, I think, changed that.”

她表示，她的競選活動突出了她與參議員伊麗莎白·沃倫(Elizabeth Warren)所開展的消費者保護工作，使此前表現冷漠的選民活躍了起來：“我認爲在這個地方人們本不會討論歷史、討論政治，但我想，最近的選舉已經改變了這點。”

Mr. Min speaks only minimal Korean, making it difficult for him to tap into the community on his own. So his parents, who arrived in the United States as graduate students in 1972, have campaigned for him at Korean churches and restaurants, and Mr. Kang has prodded local Korean-language media to cover him more.

戴夫·敏只會說一點韓語，這讓他很難融入他自己的羣體。因此，他1972年以研究生身份來到美國的父母替他在韓國教堂和餐館進行了宣傳，姜石熙也鼓勵當地的韓語媒體對他多加報道。

On a recent evening in Turtle Rock, a neighborhood near U.C. Irvine, virtually every white voter whose door Mr. Min knocked on was familiar with his campaign, including an ex-Republican who pledged his vote.

前不久的一個晚上，在加州大學歐文分校附近的龜巖山社區，幾乎每一個被戴夫·敏敲過門的白人選民都很熟悉他的競選活動，其中還包括一位承諾會給他投票的前共和黨人。

Some of the Asian voters on his list proved harder to engage.

更難參與進來的是名單上的一些亞裔選民。

A woman named Celeste grimaced when Mr. Min told her that Ms. Walters, the Republican incumbent, was “100 percent with Trump.”

一位名叫賽萊斯特(Celeste)的女子在戴夫·敏告訴她現任共和黨衆議員沃爾特斯“百分百支持特朗普”的時候，做了個鬼臉。

“This feels like an attack on the values that brought my parents to this country and that I grew up with,” Mr. Min added.

“這感覺就像是對引領我父母來到美國、我從小接受的價值觀的一種衝擊，”戴夫·敏補充道。

The woman listened, but did not ask questions or linger.

這名女子聽他說，但沒有提問或在這個問題上糾纏。

Nowhere is Orange County’s accelerating diversity more obvious than in its schools and shopping centers, where, in the absence of downtowns, community life unfolds.

奧蘭治縣多樣化進程加快的表現在學校和購物中心最爲明顯，在市中心之外，展現出了一片社羣生活。

Zion Markets (Korean) and 99 Ranches (Taiwanese) jostle with, or even replace, Vons and Albertsons supermarkets. There are so many Chinese students in Irvine now that the city supports several competing Chinese-language schools, and the public schools have been known to send notices to parents in English and Chinese.

錫安超市（Zion Markets，韓國）和大華超級市場（99 Ranches，臺灣）搶佔着Vons和艾博森(Albertsons)超市的地盤，甚至取而代之。歐文現在的中國學生是如此之多，該市爲幾所相互競爭的中文學校提供資金。而且，衆所周知的是，公立學校向家長髮通知時已經會中英文並用。

In 2016, when Ryan Garlitos was preparing to open Irenia, his critically acclaimed Filipino restaurant in Santa Ana, “there was a question of, ‘Is Orange County ready for this place?’” said Mr. Garlitos.

2016年，當瑞安·加利托(Ryan Garlitos)準備在聖塔安娜開辦他備受好評的菲律賓餐館Irenia時，“一個問題就是，‘奧蘭治縣準備好接受這家餐廳了嗎？’”加利托說道。

Apparently it is. Why? “Kids like us grew up,” said Sarah Mosqueda, his partner, who is from a Mexican family in Tustin. “That’s what changed.”

當然準備好了。爲什麼？“像我們這樣的孩子長大了，”他的搭檔薩拉·莫斯克達(Sarah Mosqueda)說，薩拉來自塔斯汀的一個墨西哥家庭。“這一點改變了。”

Mr. Garlitos and Ms. Mosqueda met working at Taco María, an ambitious Mexican restaurant in nearby Costa Mesa chosen by The Los Angeles Times as its 2018 restaurant of the year.

加利托和莫斯克達是在瑪利亞墨西哥捲餅餐館(Taco María)工作時認識的。這是科斯塔梅薩附近的一家頗有抱負的墨西哥餐廳，被《洛杉磯時報》評爲了2018年度餐廳。

But the chef, Carlos Salgado, the son of Mexican immigrants, said he had no illusions about how far immigrants still had to go in Orange County. “I have a tall white guy in my kitchen; people think he’s the chef,” Mr. Salgado said.

但身爲移民之子的主廚卡洛斯·薩爾加多(Carlos Salgado)表示，他對奧蘭治縣的移民還要走多遠沒有過幻想。“我廚房裏有個高大的白人，人們都認爲他是主廚，”薩爾加多說。

Local headlines this year have been a reminder that the county is still conservative turf mottled with liberal patches, not the other way around. A dozen Republican-dominated cities recently passed resolutions opposing the state’s new so-called sanctuary state law, which extends more protections to unauthorized immigrants.

今年的本地新聞還在提醒人們，該縣仍然是保守派的地盤，只有斑駁幾小塊自由派區域，而不是相反。最近，十幾個共和黨主導的城市通過了反對加州所謂的庇護州法決議，該法本來爲非法移民提供了更多保護。

Most of them were predominantly white communities.

這些城市大都由白人社區佔據主導。

“To me, it’s the last gasp of a ruling group of Republicans who are on their way out the door,” said Kia Hamadanchy, a son of Persian immigrants who is running for Congress as a Democrat in Irvine.

“對我來說，這是共和黨執政團隊的最後一次喘息，他們快被掃地出門了，”波斯移民的兒子奇亞·哈馬丹奇(Kia Hamadanchy)說，他正代表民主黨在歐文競選國會議員。

Whether immigrants will replace them remains to be seen.

移民是否會取而代之仍需拭目以待。

“It’s hard to get Asian-Americans to run,” said Cyril Yu, a deputy district attorney who lost his race for the Irvine school board in 2012. “But I think you’re going to get people who are excited, nonetheless, because an Asian-American’s on the ballot.”

“很難讓亞裔美國人蔘加競選，”地方副檢察官西里爾·於(Cyril Yu)說，他在2012年曾在歐文學校董事會的競選中失利。“但我認爲不論如何你會得到一些感到興奮的人，畢竟選票上有一位亞裔美國人。”